Non-penetrative sex (also known as outercourse, petting, heavy petting, dry sex, and dry humping) is sexual activity without vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, as opposed to penetrative aspects of those activities.[1][2] The terms mutual masturbation and frottage are also used, but with slightly different emphases. NPS and outercourse are rather new terms, which is why such practices are sometimes still called "intercourse."

The term "outercourse" is something of a misnomer, as it contrasts "outer" with "inter" but the "inter" in "intercourse" means "between two people" and the appropriate term to contrast "outer" is "inner". Thus, "inter" does not describe being inside the body.

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(slang: "bagpiping", in reference to the underarm manner in which bagpipes are played; "directing traffic", or "pit-wank", a variant of the term "tit-wank", are also terms for axillary intercourse) a sexual variant where the penis is inserted in the other person's armpit.[4][5]

Mutual masturbation is a sexual act where two or more people stimulate themselves or one another (also called manual intercourse[7]) sexually, usually with the hands.[8]
This may be done in situations where the participants do not feel ready, physically able, that it is socially appropriate, or simply do not wish, to have full sexual intercourse but still wish to have a mutual sexual act. It is also done as part of the full repertoire of sexual intercourse, where it may be used as an interlude, as foreplay or simply as an alternative to penetration. For some, it is the primary sexual activity of choice above all others. It enables the individuals to see face to face and leaves the hands free to caress, as seen in frottage (see below).

Mutual masturbation can be practiced by those of all sexual orientations. If used as an alternative to penile-vaginal penetration, the aim may be to preserve virginity or to prevent pregnancy. Some may choose it because it achieves sexual satisfaction without penetration, possibly seeing it as an alternative to casual sex.

The techniques of mutual masturbation resemble those of simple masturbation, with the exception that other persons are involved. The range of participation can be as simple as two participants masturbating in the same room at the same time without any physical contact to a group of people all stimulating one another. In the case of two participants, one partner may stimulate the other, each partner may stimulate the other or themselves, or one may stimulate both themself and their partner.

Mutual masturbation might result in one or more of the partners achieving orgasm. If no bodily fluids are exchanged (as is common), mutual masturbation is a form of safer sex, and greatly reduces the risk of transmission of sexual diseases. As such, it was encouraged among gay men by some safer sex organizations in the wake of the AIDS outbreak of the 1980s, as an alternative to anal or oral sex.

Partnered manual genital stroking to reach orgasm and expanded orgasm are practices done with a partner. Both people focus on creating and experiencing an orgasm in one person. Typically in this usually safe sex practice, one person lies down pant-less, while his or her partner sits alongside. The one partner sitting uses his or her hands and fingers (typically with a lubricant) to slowly stroke the clitoris or penis and genitals of the partner. Expanded orgasm as a mutual masturbation technique is said to create orgasm experiences more intense and extensive than what can be described as, or included in the definition of, a regular orgasm.[9] It includes a range of sensations that include orgasms that are full-bodied, and orgasms that last from a few minutes to many hours.[10] The term was coined in 1995 by Patricia Taylor. However, this technique is not without risk of contracting STDs, in particular HIV. A person using his or her finger, with a small wound, to stimulate a woman's genitals can be infected with HIV found in her vagina's fluids; likewise regarding a man's semen containing HIV which could infect a partner who has a small exposed wound on his or her skin.

Frottage, more commonly known as dry humping, is the act of achieving sexual pleasure with a partner or partners, whether naked or clothed, without penetration.[11] This can include using almost every part of the body, including the buttocks, the breasts, abdomen, thighs, feet, hands, legs, and sexual organs. Frottage can include mutual genital rubbing, sometimes called genito-genital or GG rubbing, and most of the other forms of non-penetrative sex.[11]

There are many reasons a couple may choose frottage. The most common reasons are as a form of foreplay before intercourse or as a method to achieve sexual gratification without the more sexually explicit (and in some circumstances, forbidden) oral, vaginal or anal sexual intercourse. Often, young people will use frottage as an earlier stage of sexual intimacy before more explicit contact is desired, or as a substitute to intercourse to maintain a higher degree of chastity. Also, frottage can be done without getting undressed. Panties, bras, pantyhose, socks, or stockings can aid in sexual arousal and stimulation.

Lap dances often involve clothed frottage. A modern dancing style which involves partners rubbing their clothed bodies on one another is called "grinding," "freaking," or "Sandwich dancing" . This is sometimes referred to in Spanish as "perrear" ("dogging"), a term that came from Puerto Rico and later became the famous dance for reggaeton.

a paraphilia involving obsession with frottage or performing frottage nonconsensually (e.g., pressing one's genitals against a stranger on a crowded subway). This behavior was once called "frottage" but that use is no longer accepted.

Part of the reason for the confusion is that consensual frottage may have once been considered a perversion and lumped in with non-consensual frotteurism. This view is no longer widely held. The 1995 book Eccentric and Bizarre Behaviors by Louis R. Franzini and Jon Squires declares frottage, in the appropriate context, to be a perfectly normal sexual behavior for anyone "male or female, homosexual or heterosexual."

slang terms, referring to male-male frot or interfemoral intercourse or both, presumably surviving from the days when these colleges only admitted men. W. H. Auden was proud of having been the first person to use the terms "Princeton rub" and "Princeton first-year" in print.[15]

↑Alan Brauer & Donna Brauer (1991). The ESO Ecstasy Program: Better, Safer Sexual Intimacy and Extended Orgasmic Response, 24–25, Warner Books. "Masters in Johnson … described female orgasm as "a brief episode of physical release" characterized by either "a series of rapidly recurrent orgasmic experiences between which no recordable plateau-phase intervals can be demonstrated or by a single, long-continued orgasmic episode… status orgasmus is may last from 20 to more than 60 seconds""

↑Patricia Taylor, PhD thesis (2000), In her PhD research study, the average time spent in an EO session was 54 minutes.